


rise up with the dawn

by foxmulder_whereartthou



Category: Persona 4
Genre: ??? i guess???? i dont know how to tag this at all, Character Study, Gen, Inaba (Persona Series), Internal Monologue, and writing a whole fic abt it. golly. go listen to it, its just me enjoying the song next chance to move on way too much, this is set around the time of rise's dungeon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-18 18:48:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29494575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxmulder_whereartthou/pseuds/foxmulder_whereartthou
Summary: Souji feels as though Inaba's changing him for the better just as much, maybe even more so, as he's changing Inaba.Inspired by Next Chance To Move On, one of the P4G The Animation's OPs, because reading the lyrics through the lens of the protag is really interesting.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	rise up with the dawn

Inaba is not exactly what Souji expected - but then again, he hadn’t expected much.

He’d expected an underwhelming year, the same one-track life he’d lived in the city, only with different scenery. He’d never expected friends and family who cared for him, let alone a purpose. 

Yosuke texts him each night, diligently, like they’re workers clocking in and out via SMS, and sometimes Souji’ll find himself flicking through his phone almost absentmindedly, going through old emails and conversations and jokes he’s forgotten the origin of. 

While before, the best he’d hope to find in his contact list is his mother and possibly a tumbleweed or two, it seems as though he gets a new number each night.   
For whatever inane reason, the people here value his advice, take what he says to heart. 

In the Junes Food Court, Souji stands as the head of the Investigation Team - his Investigation Team - the band of idiots with katanas down the backs of their shirts and kunai knives tucked up sleeves, and stupid amounts of tenacity.   
Souji could lead them into hell and they’d follow him unquestioningly. It scares him, but he knows (and maybe they do, too) that he’d never do that without good reason. They trust him, and he trusts them.

One day, he wakes up. It’s a normal day by all counts; he’s going to suffer through homeroom with King Moron, hang out with the others at lunch, and then slip into the TV in the afternoon - they’re so close to saving Rise he knows they can get to her by the end of the week at most.

He wakes up, and for the first time, knows he’s changed. It’s only been a few months, but it feels like someone completely different is standing in his shoes.   
It’s a newfound inner strength he can’t describe - and he doesn’t have to, not here.

For the first time, maybe ever, even, Souji feels hopeful. This is his god in the machine, handing him opportunity on a silver platter, and he’s going to take it with both hands.  
Yosuke walks with him to school that day, pulling along his bike like he always does. It’s so, so painfully normal, and Souji’s revelling in it.

“Hey, Souji? What’s up, man? You seem different today.”

Souji gives him a funny look in reply and Yosuke scrambles to clarify.  
“Not in a bad way! You just- I don’t know.”

He just smiles. “I don’t know either. Nice day, I guess.”

He can do it - he just has to really put his mind to it. Souji didn’t have to face his shadow like Yosuke or Chie or Yukiko or Kanji did, but he feels like when he does, he’ll be ready.

**Author's Note:**

> gtrhfkvgbjnmf,vb n this song is so good please go listen to it . its definitely contributing to me pickin myself back up
> 
> anyway i hope u enjoyed!!!! this isnt my longest or my best fic but it means stuff to me  
> thanks for reading!!! i lov u nerds <3 ^^


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